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US Plated Car Requirements


Rosalind

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Can anyone tell me whether or not my US Plated vehicle needs to have a valid tag.  I am planning on going to the Mexican consulate in Texas in November to start the temporale process - my plates only expire in February.  Once I have my temporale, I do not plan on returning to USA until my 4 years of temporale are up - then I will sell my vehicle in Texas, apply for permanente and return without a vehicle.  My Mexican insurance will be kept up to date and so will my TIP but if TIP or local laws mean that I need to have valid plates, then I will have to return to TX in February and every year until I sell the vehicle there.

Advice will be greatly appreciated.

thank you

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You will get all kinds of advice here, saying definitely yes and definitely no. So take your pick. MY advice would be to check with your Mexican auto insurer and get it in writing, not the opinion of one of their agents. Agents who give improper answers can be reputed by their company and then your recourse is to sue the agent. Good luck with that.

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I agree - you will get all kinds of advice here. Here is my two cents worth.

I'm not sure who would issue something in writing from your insurance carrier that is legally binding. If it doesn't say specifically in the policy that you don't need to have current plates then the insurance company "might" use the lack of current plates to try to deny a claim. If the policy doesn't mention current registration at all that doesn't necessarily help you. An insurance policy is a contract and your only recourse if you disagree with how it is interpreted or applied is to sue the insurance company. Forget about suing the agent or anyone else. Anything that anyone says or even puts in writing that does not legally amend the policy (insurance contract) is not going to do you any good.

You "might" be okay for a relatively minor claim but if you get involved in something serious and/or expensive (or heaven help you if someone is seriously injured or even dies) you don't want to give the insurance company anything that they can use to make it harder for you to collect. And I personally wouldn't enjoy sitting in a Mexican jail waiting for my insurance company to agree that I had valid coverage.

Another question. What happens when you want to take the car back to Texas to sell it and it doesn't have current registration? You might or might not be okay in Mexico with expired U.S. plates but as soon as you cross into Texas you are definitely driving an illegal vehicle.

We brought our car down from Texas, did the South Dakota deal for years, and when we took the car back to Texas we had legal South Dakota registration and simply had it re-titled in Texas. I know others have happily (or even proudly) gone for years without keeping their U.S. registration current. I absolutely wouldn't take that risk to save something like $5 a month for South Dakota registration - or even going back to Texas once a year if I had to. I know others will strongly disagree but I'm not sure I can count on them to come get me out of jail if they are wrong.

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You may read the Jalisco laws, if you wish, but the simple requirement is that your vehicle must be legal to drive on the public roads in its home jurisdiction, in order to be legally driven with an Importada Temporal and a valid INM document in Mexico.

The Importada Temporal simply permits you to have the vehicle physically in Mexico. It does not provide you the privelege of driving it on the public roads.  Your current registration and current Mexican liability insurance do confer that privelege, if the car is legally in Mexico.

So: The answer to your question is, Yes, you must have current tags/registration.

We held current Texas plates as long as we could, then changed to South Dakota title, registration and plates, which we kept current for a decade with an annual phone call and credit card.  Easy!

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I drove a U.S. Plated vehicle for ten years here with original registration and plates from when I entered Mexico. Mexico does not enforce laws, rules or regulations of foreign countries nor does it even know them. I was stopped a few times by Mexican police, who never looked at my license plate nor cared about seeing the registration. For correct legal advice on this always controversial question seek a knowledgeable Mexican attorney rather than a web board.

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I recommend the Clay County South Dakota registration. It will most likely cost you about $75 per year. Also, if you plan on selling your car at CarMax in Texas it must have a current registration.

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